


Body Language

by mldrgrl



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 05:08:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8191391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mldrgrl/pseuds/mldrgrl
Summary: Scully realizes there could be more to their platonic partnership. Written for a tumblr challenge word prompt "Release"





	

Something changed. It had to have been a gradual shift, but it happened so abruptly it took her by surprise. One minute she looked at him as her partner, and then suddenly…

 

They were sitting together at the counter of a diner in Missouri. There was nothing unusual about that. They’d sat together at countless diners in countless states over the years. It was July and it was hot. Mulder had his shirtsleeves rolled up past his elbows and Scully had taken off her blazer before they got out of the car.

 

Mulder was rambling, as usual, and half-stood in his swivel seat to reach over her for the ketchup. As he sat back down, his arm brushed hers and then came to rest a hairsbreadth apart, not quite touching, but still, she felt it like an electric shock. As he continued rambling, she stared at the gooseflesh that rippled up her forearm as desire coursed through her veins. It had been a long time since she’d felt it, but she certainly remembered what it was like. Her heart hammered swiftly in her chest, knocking against her breastplate with an intensity that was almost painful. Her stomach dropped and then her whole body flushed with heat. Unable to stop herself, she gasped and then held her breath.

 

He didn’t seem to notice. She finally looked up and he was still talking. She focused on the muscles in his jaw and at the delicious mole on his cheek. Dear God, she thought, _delicious_? Her mouth was dry and she realized she’d been breathing heavily, lips parted, sucking in air to keep up with her rapid pulse. She licked her lips and swallowed.

 

This couldn’t be happening. Maybe she was sick. Maybe she’d been drugged. There was no impetus for these feelings. One moment there was nothing, and then the next, _everything_.

 

“…supposedly they were able to catch the ghost on film, but…Scully?”

 

“Yes?” she answered, proud of herself for the neutrality in her voice. She had a hard time tearing her gaze from his mouth, but she looked up into his eyes and he cocked his head quizzically.

 

“Were you listening?” he asked.

 

“Mmhm. Ghosts on film. I always listen.”

 

“You look flushed. Are you all right?”

 

“Never better.”

 

“Are you sure?” He leaned in a little closer to her, holding her gaze hostage.

 

Mirrored in his eyes, she saw what she felt reflected back at her. They stared at each other, but for Scully it was as though she was seeing him for the first time. How had she never seen the little flecks of chocolate brown sprinkled in his irises? And were his eyes always that shade of grey-green-blue? Were the freckles across his nose always there? Did he always have those smile lines? And that mole on his cheek. That mole, hidden in his five o’clock shadow. How dare it be so attractive.

 

Mulder raised his hand as if to touch her face, but she knew that if he touched her, she would swoon. Like a southern belle in a romance novel, she would swoon, she was sure of it. Reflexes still as sharp as ever, she grabbed his hand before he reached her. Her intention was to bring his hand back to the counter, but she somehow misjudged the distance, or her depth perception was off, but she ended up bringing his hand down to her knee and holding it there.

 

Her quick reaction tipped her closer to him and their shoulders nearly collided. His head was still tilted to one side and now hers was tilted to the other. She could smell his cologne and couldn’t stop herself from breathing him in. Her eyelids drooped. She felt intoxicated. Her whole body began to throb.

 

Behind them, bells jangled as someone opened the door and Mulder jumped, but Scully was surprisingly calm. She squeezed his hand and his fingers dug into the side of her knee. Her heart still raced and her stomach was in knots, but something about it felt right. It was anticipation that made her jittery, not fear.

 

“Scully?” he asked, and his voice wavered a little. They were so close she felt the heat of his breath on her lips.

 

“Mulder,” she murmured in reply.

 

“Do you want to get out of here?”

 

“I think that would be a good idea.”

 

He reached into his back pocket for his wallet and she watched him take out two twenty dollar bills, single-handed as she still had a grip on the hand on her knee, and throw them onto the counter. They stood at the same time and she interlocked their fingers as they fell into step with each other on the way out. The jingle bells on the door smacked the glass pane from the force with which Mulder shoved it open, but fortunately didn’t put any cracks into it.

 

Oppressive, soggy heat slapped them both in the face. In the short time it took to walk to their rental car, Scully could feel the sweat rolling down her spine and prickling her upper lip. Even so, they both stopped abruptly in front of the car and Mulder looked down at her while she squinted up at him, shielding her eyes from the sun with a hand cupped over her eyes.

 

“Do we head to St. Louis to make our flight?” Mulder asked. “Or do we stop somewhere?”

 

There were heat waves rolling off Mulder’s shoulders and sweat dripping from his sideburns down the back of his jaw. She envisioned herself licking it off his face and then licking her way down his body. She swayed and tightened her grip on his hand, their now slippery fingers making it hard to keep her hold.

 

“We stop,” she said.

 

He nodded and they reluctantly broke apart to head for opposite doors of the car, but they watched each other the whole way. Mulder only broke when he got in to open the passenger door for her. The inside of the car was an oven, and he quickly started the ignition to turn the air on. Scully groaned at the initial blast of hot air, but as it cooled, she adjusted the vents and gripped the dashboard to bask in the relief, eyes closed. She pulled her hair up off the back of her neck and rolled her head to one side, opening her eyes to find Mulder watching her, his mouth open, eyes glassy. She felt a rush of heat all over again, through her chest and down her abdomen, straight between her legs.

 

“Find a motel,” she said, turning her head away from him because if she kept looking at him, they’d never make it out of the parking lot.

 

He drove. She had no idea where they were going, and she doubted he did either. Usually she took on the role of navigator, expertly scanning maps and memorizing directions from here to there, wherever they were. It wouldn’t be possible for her to concentrate on a map just now. She was too busy trying to keep her eyes off of him, and it wasn’t easy to do when she could see his leg move in her periphery, shifting from gas to brake, and she was actually jealous of the way the fabric of his dress pants bunched and smoothed across his thigh.

 

By the time he pulled into the parking lot of a surprisingly respectable looking hotel, she was extremely close to losing the battle not to squirm in her seat. She hadn’t so much as pressed her thighs together to ease a bit of the agony she felt, because she knew she wouldn’t be able to stop at that.

 

The hotel had an actual lobby with an actual staff, not just a desk clerk that probably lived in a room at the back of an office. It had an elevator and key cards. A continental breakfast served from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and no such thing as hourly rates. They weren’t there for the indoor pool or exercise room, though. The view of the river and the complimentary shampoo would be lost on them.

 

They took opposite sides on the slow-moving elevator up to the fourth floor. It was just them and the soft, dull music that wafted from an overhead speaker. The walls were mirrored and no matter where Scully looked, she could see Mulder, slouched against the corner with his overnight bag at his feet. Their eyes met in the glass just before the doors slid open and broke the connection.

 

“Left to 419,” Mulder said, nodding at the directory in the hallway. Most likely out of habit, he put his hand on the small of Scully’s back and she almost tripped as her knees suddenly weakened. It was only by the grace of a firm grip on the handle of her rolling suitcase that she didn’t fall over.

 

The walk down the hall felt miles long. They passed door after door, working their way from 401 to 419 while trying not to act like they were in a hurry. Mulder’s impatience was revealed when he shoved the key card into its slot with increasing desperation when the red light refused to turn green and admit them into the room.

 

“Just a little uncooperative.” He gave a nervous chuckle and then took a deep breath as he swiped the back of his hand across his forehead.

 

“I have faith in you,” she answered, watching as he slowly dipped the key card once more into its slot. The light flashed green and the mechanical lock whirred in acceptance.

 

Inside, the king sized bed was bathed in sunshine streaming in from the sliding glass doors, the gauzy curtain across them doing little to block the light. They seemed to spend so much of their lives together in shadows and darkness, yet this was going to happen in the middle of the day in a brightly lit room.

 

Scully was the first to let go of her suitcase and she crossed the room to stand in front of the bed. She swept her hand across the soft, eider down comforter. It was a luxury she was not accustomed to. She straightened and turned towards Mulder, who hadn’t moved from the entryway, but he had dropped his bag next to hers and shoved his hands in his pockets.

 

They gazed at each other from the ten feet that separated them and then he finally moved forward to close the distance. Her eyes moved to his neck and chest as he got closer. She remembered him flinging his tie into the back seat earlier this morning and undoing the top buttons at his collar. The white of his undershirt peaked through the gap of his light blue dress shirt.

 

When he reached her, when he was standing directly in front of her rolling his fingers in his pockets and rocking back on the balls of his feet, she touched him. She reached up and placed her hand on his chest directly over his heart. His chest swelled with a deep breath and she waited for him to let it go. She could feel his heart, thump thump thumping against her palm. It was soft, but swift.

 

“Let’s not be nervous,” she said, sliding her hand over to pluck at the first closed button on his shirt.

 

“Oh, I’m not nervous, he answered.

 

She looked up at him as she moved to the next button. “You’re wearing your panic face,” she said, offering him a smile.

 

“I changed my panic face, I forgot to tell you.”

 

“Oh?” She moved to the third button.

 

“Yeah, now it looks something like this.” He grimaced dramatically, pinching his brows together and twisting his lips to one side.

 

“My mistake.”

 

She’d reached the button just over his navel and she felt his gut clench under her fingers. She pulled his shirt out from his pants and slipped her hands inside the open flaps to hold his waist.

 

“Why now?” he asked, finally taking his hands out of his pockets and sliding them up the underside of her arms to cup her elbows.

 

The heat that accompanied his touch renewed the ache between her legs. She bent her neck and butted his chest with her head. He let go of her with one hand and brought it up to her neck, moving his fingers up into her hair and over the back of her head. Her scalp tingled all over.

 

“I don’t know,” she answered, honestly, shaking her head back and forth so that her forehead twisted against his undershirt. “Your arm touched mine and it felt like…”

 

“Like you’d been set on fire?” he asked.

 

“I looked at you and I saw something that…”

 

“That you couldn’t unsee?”

 

“How long have you felt this way?”

 

He continued to stroke her neck, hand over hand, mussing her hair as he moved over her head. “When you were...gone,” he said. “I wanted you back so badly. I wanted you back as my partner, but…at one point it occurred to me I would actually give anything…give anything to touch you.”

 

“Fox Mulder,” she admonished, lifting her head from his chest to look into his eyes. “That was five years ago.”

 

“Yeah, well…”

 

“All this time you were just…waiting?”

 

“I had faith in you.”

 

Scully’s mouth opened, but she couldn’t think of anything to say. Now she was nervous. Mulder had five years of expectation versus her twenty minutes of anticipation. How would she live up to that? She couldn’t possibly.

 

As if sensing her sudden hesitation, Mulder took his shirt off, letting it fall to the floor behind him, and then took her hands as he turned them both around to sit on the edge of the bed.

 

“Lay with me,” he said, turning her hands over and rubbing the insides of her wrists with his thumbs. He paused for a moment as he kicked off his shoes and then he swept his thumbs over her wrists again.

 

“Lay with you?”

 

“Yes. Nothing more.” He dropped her hands and scooted back up the bed until he was stretched out on his side, propping his head up on his fist. He gently patted the space in front of of him. “Lay with me, Scully.”

 

She stepped out of her heels, letting her toes sink into the plush carpet for a few moments before she crawled up onto the bed and into the spot reserved for her. Mulder put his arm over her and they both moved closer until their bodies rested against each other.

 

Seconds stretched to minutes. They didn’t move, just rested and breathed and shared the silence. Scully’s back was warmed by the incoming sun and it lit the side of Mulder’s face, making his pupils impossibly small and brightened the shades of green in his eyes she’d noticed earlier.

 

Scully lifted her hand between them and touched her finger to the mole on Mulder’s cheek. It broke the spell of inertia for both of them and Mulder lifted his head. His face hovered over hers and she closed her eyes as he moved down and touched his mouth to the back of her jaw, just below her ear. She kept her eyes closed as he placed soft, quiet kisses to her neck, cheek, brow, and the side of her chin.

 

When nothing else happened, she opened her eyes and saw him watching her, his face inches above hers. She didn’t know if he just wanted to look at her one last time before this line was crossed or if he was seeking permission to cross it. She whispered his name and the last syllable was cut short by the press of his mouth to hers. Her eyes rolled shut and her fingers curled over the back of his neck.

 

Their tongues met and danced together until they were both breathless and when their lips finally parted, Mulder immediately moved down her neck to her throat and her clavicle. Her chest was on fire and she felt desperate to get her shirt off, but she wanted his off even more so she could touch his skin. She wanted everything all at once. She wanted to be naked with him she wanted his lips on every part of her body. She wanted to know what the weight of him would feel like. She wanted him inside her. She wanted to know what his sweat tasted like. She wanted to know what their combined heat smelled like. She wanted to know what it would sound like to hear him moan her name in ecstasy.

 

But, she wanted to savor every moment. She wanted it to come at her slowly so she could memorize it all. Every whisper, every reveal of skin, every drop of sweat, she wanted to capture and hold onto.

 

Scully pushed on Mulder’s shoulders and he lifted his head from her neck. They were both breathing heavily and still pressed together so tightly that she could feel the expanding and contracting of his ribcage against her abdomen with every inhale and exhale.

 

“It’s too hot for clothes,” she said.

 

“I guess we better take them off?”

 

She nodded and he relaxed his hold on her to move back and onto his knees. He pulled his undershirt off while she pushed herself up to a sitting position, only letting her gaze linger for a moment on his bare chest before she twisted her shoulders and lifted her hair off her neck to present him with the single button at the back of her blouse. His fingers fluttered against her as he fought to push the small pearl through the eyelet. Finally, he succeeded, and then placed both hands on her shoulders, giving her a light squeeze.

 

Scully dropped her hair and turned back to face him as she drew her blouse up and over her head. She brought her arm out to let the shirt slip through her fingers and off the side of the bed to the floor and then reached back to unclasp her bra. The straps went loose and she pulled them off her arms and dropped it to the floor as well before she leaned back on her hands.

 

Mulder’s eyes moved over her face before he glanced down at her chest, quickly lifting his eyes back to hers. She waited for the shyness to pass, until he wasn’t trying to be so furtive about looking at her, before she reached out to touch him. Her fingers were drawn first to the smooth circle of scar tissue at his shoulder and then down to his pectorals, finally moving lightly over the abdominals muscles before she drew her hand away and sat back again.

 

She watched Mulder’s face as he slowly extended a hand out to her. He swallowed convulsively, nervously, until he reached her neck. He stayed there for a few moments, fingers curved around her neck and scratching her nape. When he finally worked up the nerve to touch her, it was first with the back of his hand. He caressed the line of her collarbone with his knuckles and then down her breastplate and back up to her collarbone. His eyes held a deep longing, but he was cautious with his touch. To encourage him, she took a deep breath and gently rolled her shoulders and his knuckles brushed the inside curve of her breast. He initially froze, but then he opened his hand and turned his wrist so that he covered her completely.

 

She felt him cup and lift the weight of her breast and then gently let it fall back into place in his hand. His thumb traced a half-moon over her areola and then moved across the hardened tip of her nipple. Her skin tightened from his touch, growing taut and sensitive. He moved his hand away from her breast to her side and down to her waist, holding her for just a few moments before he sat back on his heels.

 

Scully didn’t want to interrupt the progress they were making, but it was better to do it now than when they were further along in their crooked path to intimacy. The pillows on the bed had to go. There were too many and they were too thick. She rolled over to her knees and began tossing them to the floor. Mulder got rid of the ones on his side as well. She slipped off the bed to pull down the comforter and he rolled off the opposite side as well. They pulled the cover down together and then met in the middle at the foot of the bed.

 

She put her hand on his chest once more to reassure them both. He covered her hand with his, but she slipped out of his grasp and touched the buckle on his belt. She wasn’t about to undress him because he was hurt, she was about to undress him because she wanted to. It was foreign territory for both of them. She looked up at him to see what his face looked like as she pushed the strap of the belt through the belt to undo it. His nostrils flared slightly and his eyes were barely open.

 

She pulled his belt free from his belt loops and tossed it aside. She was cautious as she unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, but the hard bulge was unavoidable and he sucked in a harsh breath as she grazed him with her hand. His hips pushed forward and then jerked back while his hands flew to her shoulders to steady himself.

 

“It’s okay to want this,” she said.

 

“Not yet,” he answered, his voice strained.

 

She pushed his dress pants off his hips and he kicked them away when they fell to his ankles. They stood still for a long stretch of time, her eyes tracing the outline of him through his jockey shorts. Hardly any barriers were left now.

 

“Now, you,” Mulder said.

 

Scully gave him a nod and flicked at the side zipper of her pants, in case he wasn’t sure where to find it. He gently eased the pull down her thigh and then released the hook at her hip. Her slacks weren’t loose like his dress pants and they wouldn’t be going anywhere without help. He pushed them down and his hands slipped over her backside. She moaned softly and swayed forward into him. He groaned as well as her abdomen pressed against his erection. His fingers dug into the sides of her legs and held her still. When he moved his hands off of her and then leaned away, she stepped out of the pants that had pooled at her ankles.

 

They moved further apart, in sync and silent agreement that anymore accidental touching might end this before it began. They were on their own for the last piece. His hands went to the waistband of his jockeys and she hooked her fingers into the elastic trim on her underwear. For a fleeting moment, she wished she hadn’t been so practical with her plain cotton panties, but she figured it was tantalizing enough that they were about to be naked in front of each other for the first time.

 

Mulder made the first move and then Scully followed. He wasn’t as hesitant to look at her anymore and she watched the way his eyes drank her in. His arms swayed and his fingers curled by his sides and she knew he was probably aching to touch her in the same way she was aching to touch him.

 

She’d had fleeting glances of him naked before, but only in times of duress, and she hadn’t really been looking anyway. Aroused, he was maybe a little above average in size, if there was such a thing. It had been so long since she’d been with anyone that she wouldn’t be able to draw a comparison, even if she wanted to. She didn’t want to, though. She wanted this experience to be as singularly unequal and unique as their relationship had always been.

 

Scully flicked her eyes over to the bed and then back up to Mulder. He licked his lips as though his mouth had just gone dry and then nodded his head. She bent at the side of the bed and selected the softest and flattest pillow amongst the haphazard pile on the floor and tossed it up by the headboard. As she crawled up to the middle of the bed, she stopped and sat back on her heels when she noticed Mulder standing in front of her with a stricken look on his face.

 

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

 

“I don’t…I don’t have any protection.”

 

She would have laughed if he didn’t look so serious. With a soft sigh, she walked across the bed on her knees to him and draped her arms over his shoulders as she pressed her forehead against his.

 

“I think we both know there’s nothing to protect,” she whispered.

 

“If I could…if _we_ could…”

 

“I know.”

 

Her infertility was not going to cloud this moment for them. She simply wouldn’t allow it. She moved back and took his hand to bring him up onto the bed. She lay back on the pillow and tried to take him into her arms, but he lay down beside her instead and rolled her to face him. Her thigh brushed his erection and he closed his eyes. She ran her finger against the tips of his eyelashes that rested softly on his cheek.

 

“This will change everything,” he said.

 

“Not everything.”

 

“Will you still respect me in the morning?”

 

“Not if you leave your socks on,” she said, running her foot down his calf until her toe snagged on the top of his sock.

 

The tips of his ears turned pink and he groaned in embarrassment. She chuckled and walked her fingers up his chest as he rolled to his back and then reached down to yank his socks off. She rubbed his pectoral muscle with the heel of her hand until he turned his head to look at her and she gave him a smile. He moved up on his elbow and she moved onto her back, drawing him up to hover over her.

 

She held his head as he kissed her and sighed into his mouth as his hips came down to rest between her parted thighs. They hadn’t taken much time to explore each other’s bodies, but that could wait. They needed to put the mystery of how they fit together to rest and then they could take as much time as they wanted to learn the smaller details.

 

She was more than ready for it when he pushed up on his hands to look down at her. She was even the one that guided him in, but the sudden sting and burn accompanying the slow penetration made her gasp and she pressed her hand to his chest. It didn’t help that her breathing was so shallow.

 

“Scully?” he husked. The muscles in his arms clenched so tightly that they shook.

 

“I’m okay,” she said, blinking away tears that gathered in her eyes and brought her breathing under control.

 

“I’m hurting you.”

 

“There’s a little pain,” she admitted. “But, you’re not hurting me. Keep going.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Trust me.”

 

Mulder bit his lip and eased his hips up to push further into her. She winced, but relaxed her thighs as much as possible and what was initial pain melted into pleasure, as she knew it would. Her body had never had to accommodate his size and length, but it only took a minute to adjust accordingly.

 

“You can move,” she said to him, massaging his shoulders above her.

 

“Promise you’ll tell me if-”

 

“You feel good,” she interrupted. “I promise. Move.”

 

He gave a timid thrust of his hips and then another. There was already perspiration in his hairline, trickling across his temples. She breathed in the heady mixture of sweat and heat and cologne and arousal and it made her feel loose and pliant under him. She brought her hands down to his hips so she could feel the way his muscles rippled with the push and pull of his body in and out of hers.

 

She was too focused on the experience to care much about where it was going. Her body climbed slowly towards the brink, while his moved at a much faster pace. The tiny veins in the thin skin under his eyes began to flare with stress from exertion and she realized he was struggling not to go over the edge without her.

 

“Don’t fight it,” she whispered.

 

“Can’t.”

 

“I want you to,” she breathed, stretching her neck up to nuzzle her nose along his throat. “I want to see your face when you let go.”

 

“Scully,” he panted.

 

“I’m here, Mulder. I’m right here.” She held his face and he gritted his teeth and screwed his eyes shut as he gave a final thrust into her. He groaned and she felt the warmth from his body spread through hers.

 

His head came down to rest on her chest and she ran her fingers through her hair. She kissed his forehead and licked the salt from his sweat off her lips as she laid her head back down. He lifted his head just as she laid hers down and she frowned her disapproval.

 

“You didn’t finish,” he said.

 

“It’s not a competition.”

 

“Show me how,” he answered, sliding his body up while sliding his hand down her stomach.

 

“You don’t have t…oh!” She gasped as he found his target with surprising precision and he rolled her swollen flesh between his fingers.

 

“If you get to watch me, I get to watch you.”

 

“I guess that’s fair.” She gasped again as his thumb moved in circles against her.

 

“Don’t fight it,” he whispered in her ear. His voice sent shivers down her spine.

 

His hand both fueled and soothed the ache inside of her. He was certainly hitting all the right spots, just not exactly in the right way. She pulled his fingers back and pressed the heel of her hand into the top of his wrist so that his hand slid down and the knuckle at the bottom of his thumb hit her at just the angle that made her toes curl.

 

She kept her hand on his until he understood that hard and fast was what she needed. If he just stayed there, right there, like that, just like that, she would find that sweet release. She was clutching the sheets in no time and ready to burst from the inside out. If there was such a thing as spontaneous human combustion, not that she believed there was, this must be what people felt like before they went up in flames.

 

A whimper escaped her mouth and then the fever broke. She shuddered and shivered and then reached for him because she was cold without his body wrapped around hers. She sighed when they were fully entwined, warm from him and warm from the sunlight bathing her back. She had never been much of a cuddler, but she guessed that things were different when you were in love.

 

Her eyes popped open and she sucked in a breath. Mulder had his face pressed to her neck, but he lifted his head with concern and tightened his arms around her.

 

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

 

“Nothing,” she answered, relaxing back into his embrace and running her fingers through his hair until he laid his head back down again against her neck. She stared at the ceiling in awe.

 

“What’re you thinking?” he whispered.

 

“That I’m sorry it took me so long to catch up.”

 

“Don’t be.”

 

“I…” She was about to tell him that she loved him, but it felt like a foolish thing to say when they had already told each other a thousand times over. She’d said it to him when she put her career on the line for him. He’d said it to her on a dark bridge when he traded his sister’s life for hers. There were so many moments that they’d said it, it seemed rather trite to let words take the place of actions.

 

“What do you think about room service?” he asked, rubbing his cheek against her shoulder.

 

“I don’t think either of us are dressed for it.”

 

“I could get up.”

 

“In a little while. Not yet.”

 

His arm brushed against hers as he changed his hold on her and she felt the goosebumps dance across her skin. She wondered how something so simple had managed to bring them here, in this room, in this bed. She supposed it really didn’t matter because the point was, they were here.

 

The End

 


End file.
